The Good, the Bad, the Ugly and the Beautiful

Jenna does NOT deal with change well.  She is horrible at it.  Horrible.  I don’t even remember what it was she was complaining about last night.  I told her that whatever we do, wherever we live, no matter what, there are going to be some things that we like about our current situation and some things that we don’t. 

I told her to write a list of pros and cons with living in West Valley and with living in Myrtle Creek.  I didn’t suggest for her to include Kearns – after all she was only five when we had moved. There was probably more drama about that move than there was with this last one.

After reviewing her lists, I decided to make some lists of my own.  Thus for this post, I have decided to share each list that was created (or started at least)

Jenna’s pro list for living in West Valley

1)           school friends

2)           church friends

3)           good principal (Mrs. Randolf is truly amazing)

4)           FAMILY

5)           More time with dad (they had actually eaten breakfast together)

Jenna’s con list for living in West Valley

1)           a certain individual from school

2)           church friends live in apartments

Jenna’s pro list for living in Myrtle Creek

1)           same answer as number one on last list

2)           swim lessons (pool in general)

3)           friends made

4)           a library

5)           a bike

6)           good people

7)           Netflix

 Jenna’s Con list for living in Myrtle Creek

1)              mom forced me to be in band before school even started

2)             have to practice the clarinet

3)             missing friends from West Valley

4)             Barely anything to do (EVERYTHING IS IN ROSEBURG)

5)             Missing family

6)             Less time with dad [who’s still working according to mountain time and eats breakfast at his desk or long before Jenna gets out of bed]

My pro list for living in West Valley

1)           public transportation

2)           conveniences (driving locations)

3)           playing games with family members

4)           dual immersion

My con list for living in West Valley

1)           dry air

2)           traffic

3)           construction

4)           small house

5)           no sidewalks

My pro list for living in Myrtle Creek

1)           I can more easily breathe

2)           Low crime

3)           Best house

4)           Strong ward

5)           Opportunities that Jenna will have in this school as opposed to Salt Lake (such as low income rental on instrument and swim lessons that didn’t get cancelled due to a lack of numbers)

6)           Overall friendliness of people

7)           Low key traffic

8)           New Friendships

            9)         that Roland was able to bring his job with us

My con list for Myrtle Creek

1)           windy roads without guard rails

2)           family members live so far away

3)           outrageous water bills

4)           lack of public transportation

5)           library hours

6)           variety

Love the House I Live in

         Though Roland seemed anxious to purchase a house right away, I still don’t know what city I would like to make my permanent resident.  I love Myrtle Creek. Everyone’s been so friendly and it really did not take long to warm up to things.

         Roland has always looked at the house itself.  My primary concern is with the neighborhood, the ward, the area itself.  The house is only secondary.  But I do love this house we’re in right now – though we are just renting and haven’t even bothered looking at a house to buy – though Roland still seems anxious to do that very thing. 

        School is so expensive, and if we can find a home now, Jenna will have a better chance of going to school in Oregon for a much lower cost than her brothers.  MUCH LOWER – but we have to be homeowners.  But I also believe we need to be making more money than our budget allows at this time.  As renters, we do not have to pay property taxes.  I find that to be a plus right now.  

         I do know we’ll need to move eventually.  But let’s let Jenna do a year or two of middle school at least.  I thought I’d want to move her to a bigger high school, but I’m finding that I really like those that graduated from So. Umpqua High.  But I don’t know that I could last six or seven years more in this county.  Eventually I’m going to need to go back to public transportation. 

         I don’t remember yellow flowering plants with thorns even existing when I lived on the east side of state street growing up in Salt Lake City.  But after I got married and moved to the west side, thorns were an everyday part of our life.  Both houses we were in.  We couldn’t help but step of them. 

      They were constantly being dragged into the house and it seemed to house needed to be swept and vacuumed more often, but somehow thorns were always left behind.  I could never go barefoot in the house, let alone outside.  In Myrtle Creek, I’ve been able to do both.  And it’s been wonderful.

       When we lived in West Valley, there was no garbage disposal hook-up.  I am so used to scraping garbage out of the sink and throwing it away that I forget we have access to a disposal in the house where we currently live.

         We also have a place to put our table and call a dining room

         We have a lot more closet and cupboard space and just a lot more space.  It is so awesome to be able to walk from room to room without bumping into walls or furniture because everything is narrow and small.

         We have water pressure!  Something else I have truly missed the last 5 ½ years.  I love being able to do dishes in more than just a trickle of water.  I can even do dishes when the washing machine is running – something I couldn’t even fathom in West Valley. Taking showers is also a lot nicer.

         I had a laundry room when we lived in Kearns, but not in West Valley.  My desire was to move the appliances outside, wall up that area and have more elbowroom.  The washer and dryer are now in the garage where one might think I have more elbow room, but with a refrigerator on one side and a car on the other, the space might actually be tighter than in West Valley. 

         In West Valley my washer opened to the left and my dryer to the left opened down.  It was kind of a bother to attempt to push clothes over one door and hope they would land in the dryer or at least of the door – though I wasn’t happy with having too much weight.  Now my doors open opposite directions.

         I found a system that lessens the inconvenience of having two doors in between the washer and dryer.  I take the clothes out of the washer and put them in the basket.  I put the basket on top of the dryer and clothes the washer drawer.  I move my body over to the tiny space in front of the dryer and take the clothes down and put them inside.  Wish I would have thought to do the same when we lived in West Valley. I’m not complaining because there are so many other features about the house that I love.

         I love having shelves to put things.  I love having a coat closet (not that we’ve had a need for it as of yet) None of the houses I have lived in have offered coat closets.

         I love having access to electronic communication, for I still miss those that we left behind in Utah.  I am grateful that Roland was able to bring his electronic position with him and still has a job regardless of where we live.  

         I love being able to breathe.

Reminiscing Parades

          Today we attended our first parade since arriving in Oregon.   

         As we sat on the curb to wait for the parade to start,  I was reminded of a time Roland had taken Jenna and I to Midvale to watch the Cinco de Mayo parade.  I remember our eternal wait for the parade to start and how unpressed I was when the first 5 -13 vehicles that followed the emergency vehicles (which usually lead the parade) as the utility trucks and yellow construction vehicles that followed (not to mention the firetrucks)  were seen on a day-to-day basis when we were living in Kearns.

          This morning I wondered how similar the parade might be to that one – but than my expectations weren’t very high (good thing) though. I did to expect to see more floats and perhaps less monster trucks or big wheeled vehicles or whatever you call them.  

            I also thought there would be at least one band.  There was only one instrument that made its way into the parade - and not one that I expected to see.

organ player in the cart provides only music 

          Yesterday the annual three hour parade was held in Salt Lake City Utah.  I knew that it would not last that long but was surprised that the creek in Myrtle Creek lasted nearly 40 minutes.  All entries could be entered last minute.  Salt Lake participants start a month or two ahead – at least.  Even with the youth parade that is held the week prior, entries are created ahead of schedule and not just an hour to five minutes before the parade gets started.  (see this post)

            Many of the floats, bands, etc. get the opportunity of being in both parades.  Or maybe it’s just a selected few.  I don’t know.  I like my parades short and quick. Today may have been quicker but some of the monster contestants were either showing off or the drivers were just having a hard time with moving so slow – as it sounded though some had actually restarted their engines.  But what do I know about monster vehicles?  Nothing.

          We had actually seen more farm equipment here in Oregon than we did at the parade we had gone to in Star Valley, Wyoming.   

            Each time we do watch a parade – no matter how small – we are introduced to one thing that we have never had exposure to at seeing in a parade.  Today’s unique interest (maybe not those who recide in Myrtle Creek or surrounding areas – but to us) it was the logging truck. 

          My favorite thing to look at though was this dog – who seemed to want to play fetch each time the candy was thrown.  His reaction made me laugh.  He really was fun to watch.

          Jenna had a great time at the park – playing games for rocks and prizes.   

          She could have played longer but we dragged her away.  We may return for fireworks – but just did not want to hang out for twelve hours. 

           Today is the last day of the festval.  Our sleepy little town has been wakened – well for this weekend at least.